Funny as a screen door on a submarine
Just priced some high altitude research balloons that expand up to 35 feet for $395, on sale.
They didn't give a maximum altitude or payload capacity.
And I don't know how much or where to get Helium. But anyone in China could probably get all for half the price.
I can imagine a Chinese citizen buying his own balloon and tying a screen door to it and setting it free, just to protest Americas incursions through the Taiwan Straits.
Maybe $250US dollars at most?
And what would our leaders do? Order another shootdown, using a $25,000 an hour F16 and a $10,000 missile? Even if the pilot used the 20 mm cannon, those shells don't come cheap.
We can't go to war over a bunch of balloons for Christs sakes.
My whole point is sending up a fighter aircraft to shoot down an effing balloon is an incredible waste of taxpayer moneys. It's only a balloon folks.
The thought that the Chinese government and people now know how much it irritates us would only compel them to continue to release them by the hundreds. If not thousands.
It's a non sustainable trap that would expend valuable military resources and make our civilian leaders look stupid. I know, I could have worded that a little differently.
Maybe we should re-consider our policies of poking panda bears, or bears of any type?
Anyway, enough of that.
Expecting some snow tonight and we are prepared. Shouldn't stay on the ground for too long, but I hope this is the last of it.
Last year it snowed a few inches on April 14th and rained for 10 weeks after that and ruined a lot of seeds I sowed directly in the ground.
I tried to replant some seedlings in late June but the whole season was a bust. I can only hope this season is more normal and I can plant some stuff in April and everything else in May & June.
It's not easy learning how to garden at almost 47 degrees north latitude. Especially with climate change moving the goal posts every damn year. But I continue.
So, Happy Valentines Day, and the thread is open. What's goin' on?
Comments
Ed Snowden speaks
NYCVG
Really, UFOs?
I look for China to have some fun with all this.
Likie sending a giant inflated Panda Bear across. Maybe with a little green alien holding a raygun hanging underneath.
Nice to hear Snowdon is still active and paying attention. But if I were him I would be out exploring my new country, all eleven time zones, and having fun.
Although he may still be learning the language.
Thanks for that little tidbit.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Hi all,
Hey E1, Hope it's all good out there!
I saw something about a shootdown by a U.S. Nat. Guard F-16 that was a sidewinder missile. That are $400,000 each. And he missed on the first one, so it took two. Will be a nice board position waiting for that pilot methinks.
American arrogance is off the charts. Bullies are usually idiots and a-hos, but American policy makers next-level it beyond the pale. They blew the fuse and circuit on the hypocrisyometer, and the self-righteous dial is stuck, pegged. The introspection needle has not moved. They are all certain all their ideas about how everyone else should live are un-impeachable. Despite not having got essentially anything right yet.
Everything's fine. Carry on, nothing to see here. Look people balloons! We showed them. I hope all the world's balloons took notice of our fearsome balloon killers. We're number one in balloon killin' too! We're also number one at killin' people unfortunately.
Have a good one all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
For ages now, humans have been recording
and reporting seeming visits from otherworldly realms, currently identified as Unidentified Flying Objects, with the balance of the speculation as to their origins tending toward sentient beings from other worlds or dimensions (extra terrestrials) using advanced technology beyond our ken to visit us for purposes we can only speculate about. Suddenly, the most advanced and exceptional human society declares war upon these apparitions and equally suddenly an alleged human posing as earthling1, a name with obvious implications and connotations, begins to deride this war effort.
Who sent you?
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I've been exiled
from a galaxy far far away as punishment.
During peace negotiations between warring solar systems, I used a word in my native language meaning peace, but interpreted as war in the opposing camp, sparking a galaxy-wide conflagration
resulting in the vaporization of six trillion sentient beings.
I have since vowed to never let that happen again and choose my words much more carefully.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Ah, but the balloons, the balloons, they're here
you can go home now
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Lithgow's
finest performance...
And the other finest line (well, except for the watermelon in the Charpy tester):
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynozTOWeX1I width:500 height:400]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVXpCNFOSg width:400 height:300]
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
VOA argued repeatedly
...to their Korean audience, that it was a violation of freedom of speech to prohibit balloon flights over the DMZ to North Korea. These balloon flights may have been a factor in North Korea sending five drones over South Korea which flew around for five hours without being intercepted and then apparently flew back to North Korea.
South Korea responded in kind sending a couple of drones over North Korea. So both states violated the armistice. The South Korean Unification Minister had begged the NGO(s) that carried out these balloon flights to stop. At the same time, the Yoon administration was arguing in the courts that the statute prohibiting balloon flights over the DMZ was unconstitutional.
Allegedly, the NGO was booking a 100,000,000 won expense for missions over the DMZ. I guess this is about $70,000. It wasn't clear if this was per balloon or for several plus propaganda posters, South Korea videos, and allegedly small denomination South Korean currency. So a price of $250 sounds like a real bargain.
If China puts pictures of Xi and videos of CGTN news broadcasts on their balloons, this would be protected free speech activity according to Voice of America's logic.
語必忠信 行必正直
Ahh, but the US has always allowed the violation of
free speech in special circumstances "you can't yell balloon in a crowded theater", for example, or, alleged sedition like telling folks to refuse the draft (Eugene V. Debs) and disclosing state sekrets, etc.
Also, arguably, anything one could legally say is only protected in the public square. I can't wrap a political campaign poster around a brick and throw it through your window, so equally, one surmises, one cannot whitewash an aggravated assault with balloons by simply writing scripture or anything else on them.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Exactly!
I always add one other example, one can't go to the joint security area (Panmunjom) and start screaming FU! at the security guards there, whether North Korean, South Korean or UN Command soldiers.
語必忠信 行必正直
Happy Valentines Day
On February 14, 1779 James Cook was stabbed to death and burned in the midst of his efforts to kidnap the ruling chief of Hawai'i. It seems the people of the island didn't take too kindly to the imperial designs of this agent of the British Empire.
A box of fancy dark chocolate is definitely in order.
Thanks for the OT, I would prefer balloons in my skyspace rather than jets....much less noisy.
Indeed!
especially over national parks and wilderness areas
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I had not known
about the demise of Cook. Very interesting indeed. Gives new meaning to Valentines Day.
We have a balloon fest here in Tigard, Oregon every year that is a sight to behold.
We enjoy following them down the I-5 corridor.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
There used to be a balloon fest in Fresno, Ca.,
(and probably still is), but I can't recall the date. The drill was to gather from all around at a locus in nearby Clovis, party hearty the night before and sleep outdoors. In the morning they would "silently" drift overhead, silent except for flaring their burners with a quiet whoosh since they were still gaining altitude. It was pretty cool.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I just read that in order to save sidewinder missiles the
pentagon will spend $100 making large pins to pop any balloon that flies over US air space. This is a humorous story about popping balloons.
Link
But hey the media’s non stop coverage of the balloons keeps them from covering the monumental environmental disaster in Ohio and spreading to gawd knows where. That to me is proof that the balloons are a psyop.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Not sure if this was previously posted but it contains info on
train disaster and it is not good news.
Yikes!
How dangerous is this for the communities it is polluting?
It may take time and a whistle blower to get any realistic answers.
The responsible corporation surely will not be forthcoming.
NYCVG
Definitely a psyop
During the time they knew that millions of people would be tuned in to see their words on how we might be facing an alien invasion.
Contested area….
Companies are also using balloons to spy on Americans and usually over traffic. Gee when’s the last time any company made something that would be beneficial to us? Instead trillions of dollars go into heinous war machines.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
W00T1 Datelined DC
Not the best possible news, but damn good news all the same.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Damn, she retracted that within hours. Who known
whether she had a change of heart or simply forgot.
;-(
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hi earthling,
It has been my experience that many of the even small organic farmers in the PNW have gone to tunnels (aka green houses, as long as 400ft., they are large enough to till, cultivate and harvest with tractors if appropriate). Extended growing seasons, protection from excessive rain or sun, etc. But that gets to be a whole different scale quickly.
The farm that I worked at a few years back had a good crop of nopales happily growing in Eugene! Different pests to deal with I imagine, but with climate change--shrug..what are you gonna do?